Day # 4 Countdown Week: The Long and Winding Road

I was making some progress with my book when I attended an Arts Conference on Orcas Island, one of the San Juan Islands in Washington state. It was the summer of  2010.  At this conference I met Jerry Root, who had come from Wheaton, Illinois as one of the keynote speakers. He noticed I was using a cane and asked why. At the end of this particular conversation, he told me he was referring me on to his friend and literary agent. I somewhat gasped but felt it was a key moment in my journey. In fact I was so excited that I drove up to the top of Mt. Constitution where there is a panoramic view. On a clear day one can see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker and up into Canada all in one swoop. That day,  Mt. Baker was out in all her glory and I took the photo that now images the last devotional in my book. 

Jerry's friend and colleague, Stan Guthrie was most receptive of my work but extremely busy at that time and referred me to an agent he felt would be a good match. Stan told me to stay in touch with him, which I did over the course of the next 6 years. He was a source of great counsel and encouragement and wrote a beautiful endorsement for my book. 

Doors opened and then closed. I felt God continuing to encourage me to persevere. My work was seen by two editors at two very well known traditional publishing companies. They appreciated my work. One publishing company was not doing gift devotionals. The other felt I was a risk financially, being an unknown author. 

There was one year I simply sat with no action in place but my trust. A door to self publishing potentially opened and I felt positive to wait on the completion of its birthing. However that door closed for me - and for them. 

Right at that juncture, Redemption Press ( a self publishing company that is here in western WA ) came to my mind. I pursued information, did a consultation and felt comfortable with their being the right publishing company to help me birth, "Seeking" 

October of 2015, the actual publishing process began. That, too, became a long and winding road to completion in December 2016.  

Many lessons have been learned along these year. The one that stands out the most is that Redemption Press was established in 2014. The staff, on the most part, are veterans in the self publishing business. 

All the roads that led me to them were important but also necessary delays as God was readying the intersection for his appointed purposes. 

Redemption Press was on its own "long and winding journey". It was not ready in 2010 or any of the other years I had passed through. 

Delays in what we are pursuing can be very frustrating.  Yet when God shows up at HIS appointed time - it makes the waiting melt away, the joy abound, and the lessons learned ones to tuck away to be used in the future as a remembrance of his faithfulness!